Pokécheck 101: A Short Documentation

If you are reading this, it is because I posted it in the Pokécheck shoutbox and you noticed my bawdy presence there. Despite the immense power of this nifty site, the Pokécheck creators somehow decided against documenting some of the site's best features. With this short guide I will attempt to fill the void.

Searching for Pokémon

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Pokécheck's search function has one of the site's most powerful features: the search filters. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most neglected features of the site by newcomers, who come into the shoutbox saying things like "anyone hir have elekid shiny equiped with electizer?" and "does anyone have a shiny genosect" (yes, these were both actual comments).

If only they had used the filters, they would save their keystrokes and spare us their stupidity! I'm sorry, that's no way to encourage those who actually do need to read this guide how to use the filters:

1. Look at the Search feature.

2. Click the button on the far right that says Filters.

3. A bunch of options should pop up. Go nuts!

Now that you know how to use the filters, be sure to follow the secret 4th rule:

4. If someone asks for a Pokémon which can be found with filters, tell them to use them filters http://i43.tinypic.com/4pv8dk.png

This would include pretty much everything, EXCEPT for legitimate Pokérus. Blame it on administrative oversight, but there is simply no filter for Pokérus, and you won't know if a Pokémon in a search results list has it until you physically view its summary. Do not feel bad about helping out anyone who asks for it.

Connection Problems?

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Nintendo has a well-deserved reputation of having the worst online services of the major video game companies, and Pokémon is no exception to this rule. (Otherwise, you wouldn't be using Pokécheck.)

Even so, many connection problems to Pokécheck actually have nothing to do with the site, but rather your Internet service provider. If your custom-DNS powered DS refuses to cooperate with you and the site, follow these troubleshooting instructions first:

1. Download and run this small script: http://www.pokecheck.org/dnscheck.cmd

This feature is actually listed on the site a little ways down on the main page. Still, it bears mentioning here. If the script says that your ISP is forcing you to use a certain connection, you're sore outta luck. You'll need to find a Wi-Fi hotspot or visit a friend's place and hope that connection can access Pokécheck.

Quick Download Queue

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Thanks to how the in-game GTS is programmed, you could upload 726 Pokémon from your save file to the site in one session (and I hope you do, that's the maximum the game can hold), but damn, you're probably as annoyed as I am that in that same session, you can only send one Pokémon to your savefile. This means you have to select GTS from the menu, wait for the game to save, hit Yes on the Wi-Fi screen, wait for the game to connect, then wait for the Pokémon to download, then leave the GTS just to do it for your next 29 Pokémon on your queue.

Not to worry, for there is a way to (slightly) speed up the process. You can still only download one Pokémon per connect, but you will cut out about half of those steps with this nifty shortcut:

1. Connect to the GTS and download your Pokémon.

2. Instead of disconnecting, go into the Search menu.

3. Look for any Pokémon besides a Patrat. The game will say the connection has been lost; just hit A to scroll through this message.

Instead of dumping you back in front of the reception lady, you'll go back to the blue Nintendo WFC screen and be given the option to connect again right away. Just hit Yes and you're that much closer to downloading that enormous queue of Pokémon!

Cloning Items, or "I hate dust clouds!"

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Isn't it annoying how you can't use Pokécheck to evolve your Staryu because it strips Water Stones from download? Fear not, because if you can find at least one Water Stone, you can have a million Water Stones thanks to Pokécheck! (Well, you'll have to start releasing them for every 726 downloads.)

In order to do this, we must make use of the special Pokécheck cloning feature, which allows you to download ribbon-free, item-retaining Pokémon at the cost of being unable to delete any Pokémon you've cloned. This is a relatively painfree process:

1. If you have not done so already, register your savefile. This feature is actually explained very well on Pokécheck (twice, actually), so I will not repeat the explanation here.

2. Take the only copy of your coveted item and give it to some useless Pokémon collecting dust in your box. However, it is important that the Pokémon is native to your registered savefile - its Original Trainer, Trainer ID, and Secret ID must match the savefile.

3. Upload the Pokémon to Pokécheck. Once it is on the site, access its summary and look at the buttons on the bottom. You should see an option which says "Clone on GTS".

4. You will see a site will present you with the conditions of cloning a Pokémon. Accept the terms by clicking OK, and the item-retaining Pokémon will appear in your queue.

Now you're probably thinking how convenient this is - any item you have can be duplicated to your heart's content. However, waiting for the page to refresh and clicking the Clone button does get a little tedious. Here's a trick to speed up the process:

5. After clicking OK, quickly hit Esc-Enter-Enter.

Every time you hit those keys, it will stop the page from reloading (Esc), "click" the Clone button again (first Enter), then press OK on the second box (second Enter). Note that this trick actually has nothing to do with Pokécheck, but your browser - so far, I have only tested it on Firefox, so IE and Chrome users are treading mildly dangerous waters by attempting this.

Evade The Stupid Name Filter

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Don't you love giving your Pokémon naughty nicknames? So do I, but it's a shame that Nintendo doesn't agree with us. They have a word filter in place which blacklists from the GTS even the most tepid of insults, like "gland" (yeah, go figure, "England" will set it off). This means that you cannot showcase your newly hatched shiny male Cleffa named "PixieDicks" to the Pokécheck shoutbox, because the Nintendo servers will reset its nickname and change your trainer name to "Kuro*" or "Shiro*", depending on if you have Black or White.

Fortunately, Pokécheck has a undocumented feature which allows you to test the waters: a nickname tester. Without further ado, it's right here: http://vsplayer.pokecheck.org/pkvldt.php

Have fun evading the censor!

I'm Outta Advice

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I can't really think of any other feature which needs explaining. Happy cloning and quick downloading with your newfangled Pokécheck knowledge!

One last note: if you plan on using the shoutbox, read them rules: http://i43.tinypic.com/ayxcae.png